Since January 2007, as the shrinking of our newsrooms continued apace, some 2,700 journalists accepted buyouts and moved on. Here is a list of the financial terms of a sampling of those buyouts.

Bradenton Herald (Florida)
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service; maximum of twenty-six weeks’ pay
Health care: Health care subsidized for three months
The Buffalo News
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service, for up to one year; minimum offer starts at about $60,000
Health care: No health benefits

The Cincinnati Enquirer
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service for a maximum of fifty-two weeks
Health care: Health benefits for a maximum of fifty-two weeks
Daily News (New York)
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service; maximum of fifty-two weeks’ pay
Health care: Six months of health care
Los Angeles Times
Payment: One week of pay for every six months of service, for up to fifty-two weeks

Health care: The most recent offer provided medical coverage for that time span
The Modesto Bee
Payment: Two weeks of pay for each year of service; minimum of ten weeks and maximum of forty weeks of pay
Health care: Health benefits covered until December 2008


The New York Times
Payment: Three weeks of pay per year (up to 104 weeks) for employees with at least eleven years of service; flat amount (between fifteen and thirty weeks of pay) for employees with fewer than eleven years
Health care: Eight months of health coverage for employees with eleven years of service; four months of health insurance for employees with fewer than eleven years


The News Tribune (Washington)
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service up to thirteen years
Health care: Three months medical at the employee rate; employee can buy a full year of medical by foregoing two weeks’ severance
Other: Outplacement counseling by a private firm
The Oklahoman
Payment: “Early retirement package” offers one year base pay
Health care: Cobra options available at no increase for three months; offered to two groups—employees fifty-five years old or older (must have worked at least fifteen years or more) and those sixty years old (must have worked five to fifteen years)

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service; maximum of forty weeks of pay
Health care: Money (and any left-over vacation) could be placed directly into an IRA


The Providence Journal
Payment: For each year of service through twenty years, 1.25 weeks of pay
Health care: For each year of service totaling more than twenty years, 2.5 weeks of pay; maximum of thirty-five weeks’ pay
The Sacramento Bee
Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service; maximum of forty weeks’ pay
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Payment: Two weeks of pay for each year of continuous service for up to one year, provided employee has worked at least five years
Health care: Option to continue medical benefits for a period of time, based on length of service

The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
Payment: One year’s salary
Health care: Health benefits for one year
The Sun (Baltimore)
Payment: One week of pay for every six months of service; minimum of six weeks and maximum of fifty-two weeks of pay

Times Union (Albany)

Payment: Two weeks of pay for every year of service, up to one year’s salary; employees with at least twenty, thirty, or forty years of service eligible for additional lump sums of $11,000, $22,000, and $33,000 respectively
Health care: One to three years of health insurance based on service, minus co-pay
The Wall Street Journal
Payment: “Early retirement package” offered to longtime senior reporters and editors: one-and-a-half times salary
Health care: Benefits until eligible for Medicare or get new job
Megan McGinley is an intern at CJR.